Melina Porto

Translanguaging, the dynamic and flexible use of multilingual speakers’ full linguistic repertoires, is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for fostering intercultural awareness and communication ( Papadopoulos 2022 ; Zhu 2015 ). This study investigates its implementation in two contrasting educational settings, the Basque Country and Argentina. Using a comparative qualitative case study design, it examines how sociolinguistic, cultural, and institutional factors influence translanguaging practices in each context. While translanguaging facilitates deeper understanding, cross-cultural collaboration, and richer interaction, comparative research across diverse geopolitical and educational settings remains scarce. Addressing this gap, the paper analyzes not only the strategies employed but also their implications for learner identity and inclusive pedagogy ( Otheguy, García and Reid 2015 ). Findings reveal that in the Basque Country, translanguaging is frequently embedded within formal policy frameworks, whereas in Argentina it emerges more informally through teacher-driven initiatives. These contrasts underscore the need to account for context-specific dynamics when designing and implementing translanguaging pedagogies.

This study investigates invisible student trauma. It describes Sofia's case, a female adolescent who has suffered micro and macro oppression since birth. Theoretically grounded in the notion of pervasive invisible trauma, and looking at introspective, reflective, autobiographical, and artistic data gathered over 17 years, the research question is: How did Sofia experience, manifest and navigate invisible pervasive trauma in life and in the classroom? The study combines qualitative and post‐qualitative methodologies to overcome the limitations of language in the expression of trauma. Data types comprise report cards, interviews, psychologists' reports, personal responses to popular songs, social media posts, autobiographical texts, multilingual reflection notes, poems in English and Spanish, and illustrations. Findings indicate that trauma was a lifelong process characterized by enduring pain and despair in the personal, social, and academic domains. Rich and loving responses in the home, the extended family, the school, and the community were necessary to help Sofia navigate trauma and shift toward a healing orientation. Particularly generative were those responses that emerged as spaces of hope and geographical places of love in three classrooms, of which one was an English language classroom. Implications for the creation, fostering, and sustainment of trauma‐informed language pedagogies are considered.

This study investigates teacher candidates’ transcultural awareness development in an English language teacher education program in Argentina. Baker’s recently revised model of intercultural and transcultural awareness was used retrospectively as theoretical and analytical foundation in an online project undertaken in 2013 between 100 Argentinian and 75 Italian language undergraduates who communicated online using English as Lingua Franca (ELF) to address the theme of mural art and graffiti. Data was comprised of recorded Skype conversations, collaboratively created murals and graffiti, the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters, and civic action artefacts. Findings show that students deployed the various components of transcultural awareness in their intercultural encounters in fluid and dynamic ways. The study fills two gaps in the literature, namely the little existing research beyond the Asian Pacific region and Europe, and methodological limitations. Implications for the potential of Baker’s updated model in methodological and pedagogical terms are considered.

Esta investigación se propuso vehiculizar una agenda de justicia social e inclusión desde la formación docente inicial del futuro profesorado de inglés. A partir de una investigación-acción colaborativa llevada a cabo en 2022–2023 en escuelas secundarias públicas en dos ciudades de Argentina, se intenta responder la siguiente pregunta de investigación: ¿cómo puede contribuir el diseño de materiales didácticos para la enseñanza de inglés en la escuela secundaria pública en Argentina a la preparación de futuro profesorado para la inclusión y la justicia social? Los resultados indican que las participantes—profesoras de inglés en formación—se veían a sí mismas como defensoras de la justicia social y la inclusión a través de sus prácticas pedagógicas situadas. Decidieron rediseñar el currículo de la asignatura Inglés para propiciar la inclusión social a través de: a) materiales didácticos situados; b) pedagogías relevantes desde el punto de vista lingüístico y cultural, y c) proyectos de activismo. La sinergia entre las conceptualizaciones, reflexiones y acciones de las participantes impulsó y guio procesos de agencia crítica y desarrollo profesional para la inclusión en la formación docente inicial en la enseñanza del inglés. Este estudio tiene implicancias para programas de formación docente, desarrollo profesional continuo y políticas educativas.

This article reports on a 2‐year collaborative action research project carried out in 2022–2023, which investigated the intersection of social justice and advocacy in English language teaching. The aim was to describe how English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers working at state secondary schools in two Argentinian cities harnessed their agency to mobilise advocacy among their secondary school students. Theoretically grounded in social justice language education, advocacy in language education, and teacher agency, participants were seven in‐service EFL teachers, five pre‐service teachers, and 220 secondary school students, of whom 30 were adult learners. Research instruments comprised open‐ended questionnaires, teaching artefacts, lesson plans, classroom observations and interviews. Reflective thematic analysis was used. Findings indicate that the teachers enacted a set of principles as their identity as advocates for social justice through situated pedagogical practices: (a) teachers’ reflexivity, (b) shift from a focus‐on‐form teaching approach to critical approaches to language teaching, (c) localisation, (d) social responsibility and action cultivation and (e) synergy between teachers’ and students’ agency. Teacher agency, mobilised through reflection and action, became a driving force and an organising device. Implications for language teacher education for social justice and advocacy are considered.